Friday, May 3, 2013

April 2013 Review

April saw a return to moderate progress

1. Move better - Lifting and yoga are back to normal. I switched to the "high" 5/3/1 percentages and am experimenting with skipping the deload week. My schedule will prevent lifting the first week of June, so I am going to squeeze in 2 deload-free cycles before then. I think the extra work will be helpful, maybe even yield some strength gains. Pull ups are slowly improving. Everything else is holding steady.

Yoga centered on improving my foundation. I won't reap the benefits for awhile. I did manage to keep gains from the yoga challenge. I know how my chaturanga is broken, but not how to fix it. I renewed at the yoga studio for a year. I made space in the basement for "floaty" yoga to DVDs. Until I get my chaturanga sorted, I've cut all double classes and am doing no more than 3-4 yogas a week. I've done a few "long, slow" classes and find they suit me well. My body takes more time to fully open into a pose than a typical vinyasa class offers. The yoga studio has started scaling up its teaching staff, which makes more of these classes available to me.

One weekend I had an experience that convinced me, without a doubt, that yoga is having a mental impact. I think all the affirmations are starting to influence me. I am more aware of my critical thoughts and negative judgements. At times, I am a calmer and more accepting person. I had no intent to change through yoga, but it is positive.

I've been walking a few times a week, with the warmer weather. I plan on regularly biking to yoga by the end of May.

2. Beat the internet - Still struggling with this a little.

I'd regressed to checking my email and facebook multiple times a day, so I de-activated my facebook. There's no good reason for the account. Given how much I'm on the computer, it's too easy of a distraction.

Time boxing work went fine. Nothing unexpected came up, and I tracked what I did. My next year of goals will include a career focused one. I am itching to learn new stuff.

3. Make my money work - More small forward steps

- The cat and I have agreed upon a tolerable middle ground for grooming. She's looking better and I'm spending very little time on it. Total success here.

- I have done well removing the fake food from my diet. My grocery expenses are around $8 a day, but eating a high protein vegetarian diet, without soy protein isolate, is pricey. I could invest 1-2 hours a week making lentils, but that's not worth the 10-20 bucks a week it would save me.

- The pool table is finally gone. It's nice to have the space back

- I harvested $400 in rewards points from a credit card bonus program

- I got a great deal on a year of yoga, lowering my monthly cost by $13.

In May, I plan to update my budget spreadsheet to break my portfolio into percentages of stocks and bonds. Chatter online has me wondering if both are over-valued right now, but given that I don't know what else to invest in, it doesn't really matter. I am far from capable enough to execute a profitable jump in and out of the market.

4. Socialize - I saw some people, but I never got around to filling my calendar. I wanted extra time to myself. May will be more active.